PORT ANGELES — Six devices that detect small traces of radiation will go online at the MV Coho ferry landing in Port Angeles during the second week of July.
The yellow machines, which are in place alongside the vehicle lanes at the Customs port of entry, only have the capability to pick up radiation emitted from a vehicle, said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman chief Tom Schreiber.
“They are passive radiation detective devices,” he said. “It’s not an X-ray type thing.”
Schreiber said the machines are safe and don’t use any radiation themselves.
He said they will pick up any radioactive material, such as coming from some sort of weapon or bomb — as well as, possibily, from certain types of medical treatments, rocks or older compasses.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratories began installing the yellow machines on May 26 under a $400,000 contract. Costs of the machines were unavailable.
“It’s a good thing. It’s a positive thing. It doesn’t delay or impede anyone’s travel,” he said.
The device won’t impede travel, that is, unless someone sets off the machine’s alarm, which he said occurs daily at the Blaine border crossing.
The machines are so sensitive, Schreiber said, that even soil or rocks — such as a marble counter top — can contain enough natural-occurring radiation to set off the machines.
People who have undergone certain medical treatments where they are injected with isotopes — such as with heart imaging — also can set off the machines.
Schreider said older compasses and older glazes used for pottery can also set off the alarm.
Schreider said border agents use “hand-held devices” to determine the source of the radiation when an alarm goes off.
That could take from 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
He said that travelers who have gone through a medical treatment that may set off the alarm should carry a note from their doctor explaining that.
“It helps us speed through the process a little bit,” he said.
Schreiber said the same machines have been in place at larger border crossings, such as in Blaine, for several years.
Nationwide expansion
Port Angeles and other smaller ports are receiving them as part of a nationwide expansion in the use of that technology.
He said these machines are located on 473 border crossing lanes throughout the nation “with plans for more.”
“What good would it be to have a locked door and three windows open at your house?” he said.
Schrieber said he didn’t know how many more ports are slated to have these machines installed.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
